MIDTOWN — A pair of spas that were busted for prostitution by undercover NYPD officers should be shut down and fined, according to two lawsuits filed by the city.
Staff at Red 27 Spa at 289 Seventh Ave. as well as staff at Wellness 54 at 240 W. 54th St. offered to engage in sex acts with the undercover officers in exchange for money four times between May 31 and June 16, according to the suits filed by the city in Manhattan Supreme Court last week.
On June 2, a woman working at Red 27 Spa — which boasts “sexy,” lingerie-clad attendants — agreed to have sex with an undercover officer for $200, the suit says. Both the woman and a manager who negotiated the transaction were arrested, according to the suit and a criminal complaint.
Later that month, on June 16, a female spa employee agreed to have sex with an undercover officer in exchange for $140, the suit says.
Wellness 54 meanwhile, has been investigated twice since the NYPD received a 911 call from an anonymous woman saying workers there offered her sex acts when she went for a massage, a second lawsuit says.
Women there also agreed to perform sex acts with undercover officers for $80 on May 31 and June 6, according to the suit.
Advertisements on Backpage.com feature “pictures of young, attractive girls in provocative poses, wearing lingerie, and with their cleavage exposed” and offer “SENSUAL TOUCH + NUDE BODY SLIDE… MUTUAL TOUCHING + EROTIC BODY CONTACT,” according to the suit.
“It appears clear from their ads that they are not attempting to appeal to the customer who is interested in purchasing a massage only, but rather the customer who is interested in paying for sex or other sexual [acts],” the suit notes.
Both lawsuits seek to impose civil penalties on the spas and shut them down for a year.
Red 27 Spa could not immediately be reached for comment Monday, and an employee working at Wellness 54 said she could not comment on the suit.
A spokesman for the city’s Law Department also declined to comment.
